During the three-day competition, the mission for each eight-person team was to maintain the network infrastructure and keep up with user demands of a fictional correctional institution while thwarting simulated cyber attacks.

Entering the competition with limited information about the facility's network, level of security, and software, the teams were also challenged by several stressful situations designed to assess their ability to cope under pressure. Throughout the contest, a live "orange" team of fictional employees, business clients, and customers created an array of obstacles to test the teams' ability to maintain service.

To further complicate the process and add additional stress, another "red" team actively attempted to break in and disrupt the teams' network operations. Teams earned points for successfully completing business tasks and maintaining services, but lost points when service agreements were violated, when they used recovery usage services, or when the red team successfully infiltrated their network. The RIT team beat the other teams and took home the Alamo Cup by accumulating the most points at the end of the competition.